‘What’s he done wrong?’ – Ferdinand ‘baffled’ by Arteta treatment of one Arsenal star

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has been confused by Mikel Arteta’s treatment of Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly this season.

The Gunners have disappointed in a number of their performances over the last couple of months but they produced one of the best displays for a while over the weekend in a 3-0 win over Fulham.

Arsenal are now back in control of the Premier League title race after Manchester City were held to a 3-3 draw by Everton on Monday evening.

Martin Zubimendi has been criticised for his performances in recent weeks with the Spaniard looking fatigued after a long first season in the Premier League.

Lewis-Skelly made his first-ever star in his preferred central midfield position against Fulham as Zubimendi was rested by Arteta.

Former Real Sociedad midfielder Zubimendi is expected to come back into the Arsenal side for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.

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And Ferdinand insists he’s been “baffled” by Lewis-Skelly’s omission for much of this season despite having a great breakthrough 2024/25 campaign.

When asked about Lewis-Skelly’s performance for Arsenal at the weekend, Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel: “I just thought how is he not getting more game-time?

“I just think the energy he brings to the Arsenal team, the aggression, he got out to players. I’ve been baffled that he hasn’t played more football for Arsenal.

“If you think about what he did last season, he was arguably the best young player in the Premier League. What’s he done wrong not to play?

“Listen, if Arsenal win the league then obviously Mikel Arteta is right but even talking just selfishly you want young English players playing and he showed he can play last season.

“He can play in multiple positions as well, he can play left back or in midfield where he played growing up.

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“Martin Zubimendi has looked a bit tired and leggy at times and Lewis-Skelly just injected that right amount of spark and energy that Arsenal needed.

“It’s difficult to imagine him not playing most of the games until the end of the season now.”

Lewis-Skelly has only made three Premier League starts this season but the 19-year-old was still grateful that Arteta showed faith in him.

Arsenal starlet Lewis-Skelly told Sky Sports: “That’s the boss, I’m grateful for him. That shows our connection is strong.

“Inside I was buzzing, but I was just glad the manager put his trust in me [to play in midfield].”

Arteta admits he’s been tough on Lewis-Skelly this season but the Arsenal head coach has been pleased with the youngster’s response.

The Arsenal boss said: “He had a spectacular season last year when he jumped into the first team, but he had some difficult moments after that,” explained Arteta.

“He stayed very humble, very focused, very aligned with what we wanted to do, and I knew he was ready.

“He’s been showing in training every day the opportunities that he had to play. He’s done it, and today he really stepped up, and I thought he had an incredible performance.”

When asked why it has taken so long to give Lewis-Skelly a game in midfield, Arteta replied: “Because probably I don’t have a clue, and maybe I should have done it earlier, I don’t know.

“But I have to do things when I believe that the player is ready, the team is ready, and the opponent is the right one to play with him in that position.

“We’ve done it today, it’s the first time. It was a big risk because I knew what was going to happen; if he wasn’t this great, we would have lost the game.

“How do you play a kid at this age, in this scenario, in a position that he hasn’t played all season? I knew that, but I had the feeling that it was the right game for him.”

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